Luxury downtown condos mixed up in mortgage scheme

A Houston attorney and escrow officer admitted to her involvement in a mortgage scam involving downtown’s Commerce Towers, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

The attorney and three others were indicted in 2011 for a scheme where they allegedly used fraudulent documents to help borrowers qualify for loans to buy condos in the downtown building and other properties in the Houston area.

A news release about the guilty plea says the indictment shows the documents had “false and misleading information about the borrowers’ income, assets, liabilities, employment status, bank deposits, rental payments, intent to use properties as a primary residence and source of funds used to close the real estate transactions.”

The attorney admitted she “arranged for disbursements from the title company to be turned into cash and money orders and secretly distributed to the involved parties,” the statement said.

In a similar case, three individuals pleaded guilty earlier this year for their roles in a mortgage fraud scheme involving units in downtown’s Kirby Lofts at 917 Main St.

(Note: This post was changed from an earlier version to reflect the correct year of the indictment.)